Archive for June, 2005

The Next - Make it Quick 7″ (1979 Sharp Records)

Texas is famous for its great (and in many cases relatively unknown) punk bands. From the more popular ones such as The Dicks, Big Boys, Butthole Surfers, DRI, and The Offenders, to the more obscure (except to record collectors) like Hugh Beaumont Experience, The Huns, Vomit Pigs, and The Next, the state has an impressive track record for great bands.

It was when this single was included on the Deep in the Throat of Texas compilation LP that I first heard it and fell in love with it. The record has 3 songs, and all of them are amazing early punk tracks full of attitude.

According to the liner notes of said compilation, The Next were from Austin Texas and formed in the wake of the Sex Pistols playing a show in San Antonio. The Next became a regular band performing at Raul’s (and are included on the Live at Raul’s compilation) probably because their singer, Ty Gavin, was a bartender at the club. In their small time together the band went through a few lineup changes and put out only two 7″s, this one and their second one titled Kick Ass (which I am in need of if anyone can help me out). According to what I’ve read, their sound changed quite a bit on the second single and it wasn’t nearly as good. Where the members are now is anyone’s guess.

As always if you have any additional information, or were a member of The Next, please get in touch.

Listen to “Monotony” from the record

There are few things I hate more than when some new band forms, and they use the name of a much better band that came before them. Case in point, a friend of mine is dancing at a show at Gunther Murphys this Thursday night and one of the bands who is playing is called The Sleepers.

What the fuck?! There already was a band called The Sleepers! They were from San Francisco and featured the late Ricky Williams on vocals. They were a really good band from the early punk days. A simple google search by these disrespectful humps would have easily shown them that name was previously taken! This is worse than when some crappy movie studio remakes some great and not really that old film (see Texas Chainsaw Massacre for an example) when there was nothing wrong with the original in the first place. They are just too lazy, or uninspired, or incapable of coming up with something original. The world does NOT need another Sleepers, the one we had was fine. Come up with your own name.

If some group of guys (or gals or some combination thereof) forms a band and can’t be bothered or are too stupid to check to see if the great idea they had for a band name was already used, do you really think they possess enough creativity to come up with music that doesn’t suck total ass? I think not. These guys aren’t even from San Francisco, they are from Chicago. My city is occupied by fucking blasphemers! I mean come on, in this day and age pretty much the entire universe up to and including my dog has access to a computer somewhere that is on the internet. It takes all of about 30 seconds to do a google search (or 7 minutes if you are still using archaic dialup access), put forth the effort for crying out loud! This new “Sleepers” has a website, so someone associated with the obviously has access to a computer, so why didn’t they bother to check to see if the name was used?!

Alright, end of rant. I hope they wise up and change their name. I’m sure the surviving members of The Sleepers (the REAL Sleepers) don’t appreciate their name being taken.

Going Underground: American Punk 1979 - 1992 Book
By George Hurchalla
Zuo Press

There’s been a few different books about punk rock and its history, but not that many that really cover the hardcore years that were post-1980. The most notable one to cover this era is the American Hardcore book by Steven Blush, which while having some interesting information, was inherently flawed by the author spending too much time trying to put himself over, and trying to get across his agenda that punk died on a certain date and was full of scandal. It tainted what would have otherwise been a fantastic book.

That is where George Hurchalla comes in. George, only a few years older than me, has a great passion for punk rock even to this day. His only agenda was to share stories and history with interested people who might want to learn more about a very special time and a very special world that was the punk rock scene in American in the 1980s. It was fascinating to read the stories on how he came to discover punk and the various bands, venues, etc. Many of his stories were very similar to my own experiences back then, except unlike me, George traveled the country and experienced punk scenes in many different places in the US.

The book reads almost like a tour, Hurchalla does a wonderful job of weaving stories together that focus on different regions of the country. The information was culled from countless hours of reading old interviews, speaking to various band members from that time, and even from websites such as this one and the Spontaneous Combustion site! I was flattered to see my sites listed as a source of information.

Every scene touched on in this book was done justice and I learned a bunch of things about various bands and scenes that I didn’t know before reading this book! I was particularly fond of the stuff on Husker Du, the Chicago scene, and the less recognized bands such as Electric Love Muffin from Philly. Unlike the “other hardcore book” there is no embellished drama and scandal, it just reports the facts, intertwined with Hurchalla’s stories of how he came to discover the various bands and scenes. There is a good amount of pictures of bands, records and old flyers sprinkled in the book as well.

Weighing in at a little over 300 pages and the large size make it a book you wont finish in one sitting. The one fault of the book, if you could call it a fault, is that there wasn’t more. I only say that because I found it so hard to put down, I was hooked and just kept reading and reading until my eyes couldn’t take it anymore. When I was done, I was yearning for just a few more chapters, it was that good of a read.

As a person who was there for a good chunk of the time period this book covers, it was not only a wonderful trip down memory lane, but also served as an enhancement to my “punk rock education” as there was plenty of stories I’ve never heard before, and information I wasn’t aware of. If someone who wasn’t there at the time were to read this, they’d come out of it with a great understanding of what the world of punk rock was like back then and will hopefully appreciate it and respect it as much as the author, who’s passion for the old punk scene never seemed to fade or sour like some people. I can’t recommend this book enough, and hopefully there is more like it to come in the future.

Order the book from Amazon.com

Tonight I went to Famous Freddie’s to see the WWE Vengeance wrestling PPV. It was a Raw-only show and while those are usually better than the Smackdown only shows, I typically find the single brand shows to be pretty sub-par and they do little to make them feel any different than the weekly TV show. I’m happy to report, they really delivered on this show.

One of the things I think has helped immediately was the draft that is still in place. Having some fresh faces in the mix has helped them already put together a fine card for the show. Carlito and John Cena were welcome additions to the Raw roster and both had very good to excellent showings tonight.

Carlito fought Shelton Benjamin in a rematch for the IC title that Carlito won this past Monday. It was a pretty solid match and was entertaining from start to finish. Carlito has been one of the bright spots in the WWE this past year, and he’s getting a chance to show his ring work now which while not on a Shelton Benjamin level (who is going to be a big star in this business I feel as that guy is a great worker), he can still hold his own quite well and these guys together were a great way to open the show. Carlito ended up getting the pin after Shelton missed the Stinger Splash and his his head on the exposed turnbuckle Carlito had removed during the match. A good finish that helps cement Carlito as a guy who uses shady tactics to win his matches and basically steals his wins.

Victoria and Christy Hemme had their match next. It was the shits and it was not because of Victoria. Christy has a LONG way to go before she is really ready to be working wrestling matches. I’m sure she is trying, but it is just too soon for her to be working in that ring, especially on a show you are asking people to shell out cash to watch. Wisely, Victoria got the win, but it wasn’t in an effort to push one of only 3 women they have that can actually work a match, but to be able to continue the feud longer because these two are the only ones able to wrestle right now since Trish and Lita are both on the mend. Sadly, once those two return, I’m sure they’ll forget all about Victoria again which is a damn shame because she really is talented.

Kane and Edge were next and really it did absolutely nothing for me. No it didn’t suck and they thankfully kept it somewhat short. I think the whole story line with Edge and Lita just sucks, and is in very poor taste considering how it was somewhat based in reality with the Lita, Edge, and Matt Hardy situation. Kane got the win after some botched interference by Lita and Snitsky. Thumbs down but I wasn’t pissed that those 15 minutes were robbed from my life, I just didn’t have any emotional interest in the match since the storytelling was so piss poor.

In what was the most unnecessary and overly long time waster of the evening, Viscera and Lilian were in the ring and Lillian asked big Vis (decked out in his pimp robe, I swear they should run with the gimmick and change his name to “huge hefner”) to marry him. As he was pondering it, we got the return (for one night only we’re I to guess) of the Godfather with his ho’s. In what could have been done in half the time, Godfather talked Vis out of it and the big man dumped Lillian for a bunch of hookers. Lillian was left crying in the ring. Why did this get 15 minutes of PPV time when there could have been a match for the tag team belts is one of life’s great mysteries.

Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels had a rematch of their Wrestlemania 21 match and it was phenomenal! It was a solid match from the moment the bell rang with lots of back and forth, lots of excitement, some sick bumps from HBK, and a strong finish. I knew HBK was going to “get his win back” after doing the honors at WM and the match was so well done, Kurt lost nothing in doing the job and actually received a fair amount of applause when he walked up the aisle after the match. It was one of those matches that was so well done that you just appreciated what a great performance both men put on and couldn’t help but get behind it. Now that they both have a win on each other, I’d love to see them go at it again to break the tie.

John Cena, Chris Jericho and Christian had a triple threat match for the WWE title. I was fairly certain going in that it was going to be pretty good. I mean on paper, how can you go wrong? Cena’s ring work the past couple months I feel has gone up a notch and Jericho and Christian certainly deliver the goods on a regular occasion. The three of them really put together a great match. There was lots of near falls, interference on the someone’s advantage and just solid and non-stop action. They did a great job mixing it up amongst the three of them and while I thought that the logical choice was to give the title to either Jericho or Christian (my vote was for Captain Charisma) and have them take it over to Smackdown this week in the draft, Cena retained. Big thumbs up, just a really fun match to watch.

That left us with the Hell in a Cell match between Batista and HHH. After what felt like 3 hours of recaps, and another 10 minutes for Trip’s entrance, the match finally started. I wasn’t sure how Batista would do in this type of match but I am happy to report I was pleasantly surprised. They did it more old school and didn’t go to the top of the cage or resort to any giant high spots, instead they just had a violent, bloody match that did a really good job building up drama and excitement into a pretty good finish. At the point where Hunter hit Batista in the sac and hit the pedigree, I feared that a very enjoyable match to that point was going to end abruptly and soil the whole experience but when Batista kicked out, I was relieved to know they had something better in store for a finish. After a lot of very near falls, lots of bleeding, barbed wire chair shots, a sick spine buster on the steel steps and more, Batista finally hit his finisher and got the win. I found it a really great match and a fine finish to a pretty strong show overall. It certainly exceeded my expectations and I left the bar happy that I made the trek out there to watch it.

I just did an interview with Tony Victor who was the founder of Placebo Records. Placebo Records put out records by JFA, Mighty Sphincter, The Feederz, The Teds, and pleny more. It’s up on the Spontaneous Combustion site and you can read it here.

MC5 - Kick Out the Jams DVD
Music Video Distributors

For many punks older than me, their road to the promised land (the punk rock scene) was first paved by such unorthodox bands such as The Stooges and MC5. Now referred to as pre-punk, these bands bucked tradition and did their own thing with no regards to commercial success. A blueprint that would be followed years later by the first generation of punk bands.

The MC5 only lasted a few years and put out like three albums but they certainly made an impression on the generations of music fans who followed. This DVD is a collection of live footage and various images of the band, and other things, all woven together to make a 30 minute long music video and peek into what the MC5 looked like live. Visually it is what you’d expect for something of this nature, a visual acid trip and probably a perfect thing to have on while indulging in your favorite chemical substance or smoking plants. I imagine said items were consumed in great quantities by the two people responsible for this DVD.

While the performances don’t match up with the music on the screen most of the time, it still makes for an interesting thing to watch while listening to the great selection of MC5 songs featured on this DVD. Since footage of the band playing is pretty rare, as in the 1960s, video cameras weren’t something everyone could just run to the store and buy, this is about as good as it gets as far as seeing what it was like back then. I myself was born a few years too late to have “been there”, so as someone who came to discover the band many years later while investigating the roots of the punk rock I hold so dear, I appreciate the ability to see what it was I missed.

Aside from the film, which clocks in at just over a half an hour, there is also an interview with John Sinclair that was filmed a few years ago. Unfortunately, someone thought it would be a good idea to have some music/poetry playing in the background during this and because it was mixed so high, it is really hard to make out a lot of what the soft spoken (and quite old at this point) Sinclair is talking about. I’d have preferred to have the interview be untainted by that so I could hear what he had to say. The interview is about a half hour long as well. Sadly that is all in the way of extras, so the total run time of the disc is about an hour, however it is an hour more than I had before this DVD was released.

Buy the DVD